The Volkswagen Eos was a

sport compact Sport compact is an American car classification for a high-performance version of an affordable compact car or a subcompact car. There is no precise definition and the description is applied for marketing purposes to a wide variety of models. ...

cabriolet A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving expe ...

coupé A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...

produced by the German automaker

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

from 2006 to 2015. Assembled at

AutoEuropa Volkswagen Autoeuropa Lda. is an automotive assembly plant, located in the city of Palmela, near Lisbon, Portugal. Formed in 1991, it began operations in 1995 fully owned by Volkswagen. It is the largest foreign industrial investment in Portugal. ...

in Portugal, it was a convertible only compact coupé introduced as the successor of the Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet. It was Volkswagen's first production coupé since the

Volkswagen Corrado The Volkswagen Corrado is a compact four passenger (2+2), three door, front-engine, front-wheel-drive liftback coupe marketed by Volkswagen from 1988 until 1995, and manufactured by Karmann in Osnabrück, Germany. Designed by Herbert Schä ...

, which ended production in July 1995. The name ''Eos'' was derived from Eos, the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

goddess of the dawn. The Eos ended production in May 2015. However, a limited number of base trim models were sold as models of 2016 in the United States.

History

Prior to production, the Eos was shown as the ''Concept C''

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...

at the 2004 Geneva Motor Show — designed by a team headed by

Peter Schreyer Peter Schreyer (born 1953) is a German automobile designer widely known for his design contributions to the Audi TT. He has been the chief design officer at Kia Motors since 2006 and, on 28 December 2012, he was named one of three presidents of ...

, Head of Volkswagen Design in Wolfsburg. Other sources attribute the design of the Eos specifically to Slovenian

Robert Lešnik Robert Lešnik is a car designer, born 1971 in Maribor, Slovenia. After three failed attempts to enter the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, he registered at the University of Pforzheim, and while there he took an exam to work with Volkswagen. He ...

. The production Eos, produced at the

plant in Portugal, was presented in September 2005, at the

Frankfurt Motor Show The International Motor Show Germany or International Mobility Show Germany, in German known as the ''Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung'' (''IAA'' – International Automobile Exhibition), is one of the world's largest mobility shows. It cons ...

, with the North American introduction at the

Los Angeles Auto Show The Los Angeles Auto Show is an annual auto show held at the Los Angeles Convention Center in early December. The LA Auto Show is an OICA sanctioned international exhibition. It is open to the public for ten days each year, filling of exhibit ...

in January 2006. Unlike the Cabrio, which was a convertible version of the

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

hatchback, the Eos was a standalone model with all new body panels, although it shared the platform and components from the

Volkswagen Golf The Volkswagen Golf () is a compact car/small family car (C-segment) produced by the German automotive manufacturer Volkswagen since 1974, marketed worldwide across eight generations, in various body configurations and under various nameplates ...

(Mk5). The

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (fron ...

matches the Golf Mk5 and Jetta.

Roof design

The Eos incorporates into its five piece folding roof an integrated and independently sliding glass

sunroof A sunroof is a movable panel that opens to uncover a window in an automobile roof, allowing light and fresh air to enter the passenger compartment. Sunroofs can be manually operated or motor driven, and are available in many shapes, sizes and styl ...

— making the Eos the only retractable hardtop of this kind. The roof folds automatically into the trunk in twenty five seconds, thereby reducing trunk space from . The roof was designed and is built by

OASys OASys is the abbreviated term for the Offender Assessment System, used in England and Wales by Her Majesty's Prison Service and the National Probation Service to measure the risks and needs of criminal offenders under their supervision. Initia ...

, a subsidiary of Webasto Germany. The design of the roof system is complex with its own hydraulic control system and numerous rubber seals. Periodic maintenance must be done to keep the seals conditioned so that they function properly. Early models had a different seal design that was prone to leaking, but these were updated in the 2009/2010 timeframe. Proper body alignment is critical for proper top function.

Facelift

A facelifted Volkswagen Eos appeared in October 2010, and went on sale as a model of 2012 outside

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. This facelift includes a revised front and rear fascias, headlights and tail lights, side mirrors, as well as new wheel designs.

Eos ''White Night''

The ''White Night'' edition was a special edition with custom wheels, custom black interior and a black and white colour scheme package. It includes Candy White coloured body, Deep Black Pearlescent coloured roof, cherry red LED tail lights, 18 inch Budapest wheels. Other features include black mirror covers, radiator grille and trim strips, black Nappa leather seats, door and side trim and black steering wheel with light coloured seams, trim strips and radio trim in candy white, sill panel strips with white night letters. Other features include climatronic climate control system, sports chassis lowered and heated front seats. This option is available with all non V6 models.

United States ''Final Edition''

Sales of the Eos steadily declined, as hardtop convertibles fell out of favour with buyers. In addition, the Eos was based on the Mark 5 platform, and by 2014, it had become one of the last models produced on it. With sales declining, Volkswagen elected to not migrate the model to a more current platform, as a redesign would have proven costly. During 2014, Volkswagen announced that the model would be discontinued with a close of the model year of 2015, and Volkswagen produced a ''Final Edition'' trim to mark the occasion. This 2015 only version slotted into a mid trim range in the United States, and replaced the Sport trim previously sold there. The Final Edition was basically a Sport trim with special two tone beige/black leather upholstery and a back up camera with park distance control added. The ''Final Edition'' was available in three basic colours: black, brown and white.

2016 United States wrap up

In August 2015, Volkswagen announced that there would be a very limited run of Eos cars of 2016 in the basic Komfort trim only. In October 2015, at least one dealer was quoted as saying only 1,300 cars were made available for the United States in four colours: black, brown, red and white. Since 2014, the Komfort trim had developed to include a fairly rich complement of standard features to include in dash navigation. By May 2016, the cars were all but gone from dealers.

Drivetrain

International markets

The Eos was released in Europe in the first quarter of 2006, and in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

in the third quarter of 2006. Right hand drive markets, such as Japan, began sales in October 2006, followed by

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

in January 2007. It was released in South Africa in the second quarter of 2007.

References

External links

Eos at Volkswagen InternationalA link to an article of the Eos' inspiration, the Concept C.
{{Volkswagen (North America) timeline 1980 to date Eos Sport compact cars Euro NCAP small family cars Front-wheel-drive sports cars Hardtop convertibles Cars introduced in 2006 Cars of Portugal Cars powered by VR engines 2010s cars